Separate Ways
by CMPerry
Summary: Jessie and James are separated by the Boss and each given new partners. But when Jessie becomes seriously ill, who will be there for her? Rocketshipping.
1. Split

**A/N This is a fic that I haven't worked on in about two years, simply because I didn't know where it was going. Just a few weeks ago I finally worked out how I wanted this to end. Talk about writer's block! I have changed a few details, like the name of James's new partner and some of the characteristics of Jessie's. I doubt I'll have many of my original readers, but if I do, hello again. And to my new readers, just hello! Hope you enjoy. **

* * *

Giovanni sat in front of them, a grim smile on his face.

"Come in Jessie, James," he said coolly.

The two Rocket agents glanced at each other, their own apprehension mirrored in the other's eyes. They stepped inside the long office.

"Sit," he commanded. They obeyed.

"I've just heard something very interesting about you two."

Jessie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "What have you heard?"

"You and your little friend," he said, jerking his head towards James, "are the lowest ranking field agents in Team Rocket. You have failed to bring me one single valuable Pokémon, and you have been working for me for seven years."

"That's not true!" Jessie burst out. James flashed her a shocked look. Yes, she could be outspoken, but she usually knew better than to raise her voice to Giovanni. "We brought you that Eevee just two weeks ago!"

Giovanni let out a bark of laughter "Ha! That pathetic thing? I said _valuable_Pokémon! That little runt was worthless to me. I had it disposed of."

"You – " Jessie started, her anger becoming more and more difficult to control. But before she could say anything else James kicked her under the table.

"Jess... shhh!"

The Boss's attention shifted on to James now. James studied the floor, feeling uncomfortable under Giovanni's cold gaze.

"You're intelligent, James. You know better than to talk back to me." He paused for a moment.

"But you're also weak, blundering and hopeless." James just stared at him, wide-eyed while Giovanni continued, "but I am not an unfair man."

At this point Jessie let out a cough, that could have been disguising a laugh of disbelief, but if Giovanni had heard this, he ignored it.

"Based on your intelligence," he continued, "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and keep you on as a member of Team Rocket in the hope that you might show some spark of brilliance given the right mentor. I want you to go to Sinnoh with Carmen, and maybe there you will actually do something worthwhile. I warn you, James, Carmen will make Jessie here look relatively tame!"

James still sat in silence, staring at Giovanni, but his fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.

"As for you," he said, turning back again to Jessie,

"What?" she spat.

"You'll be going to Johto with Jasper. You may still not know when to hold your tongue but at least you're determined. I trust Jasper won't hold you back like James here."

"He doesn't hold me back!" Jessie shouted, "it's hardly our fault you're so damn picky that you don't want any of the Pokémon we send!"

Giovanni rose from his seat and slammed his hands down on the desk. "Silence!" he yelled. "You will speak when you are spoken to, you insolent child. You should be thankful you still have a job here! If it weren't for me, you and your worthless partner would be out in the cold! You should be thanking me. Or would you rather I just cut you from the team?"

Jessie said nothing, she just stared at her feet, scowling.

"Answer me!" Giovanni screeched.

"I want to stay," she muttered, not taking her eyes off her shoes.

"Good," he said, smiling darkly as he sat back down. "I will give you a month with your new partners to make your way to Johto and Sinnoh and after that I will expect you to send me some Pokémon for once in your lives. Now, get out of my sight."

They rose from their seats but Jessie paused.

"Wait," she said, "you didn't say what was going to happen to Meowth."

The Boss stared at her coldly for a moment and then replied, "Meowth has never displayed the spectacular levels of ineptitude that you have. He will stay here and work for me in Headquarters. Now, I said get out of my sight, I don't want to have to say it again."

And with that, he turned his back on the two Rocket agents and motioned towards the door.

Neither of them spoke until they had been escorted down the 17 storeys and out the front doors of Rocket Headquarters.

"So, that's it then," James said. "He's split us up."

"Yeah," Jessie said shortly.

"I need to go all the way to Sinnoh. I hate Sinnoh. And I don't much like the sound of this Carmen either."

"Mmm," Jessie agreed.

"Jess?"

"What?" she replied, not meeting his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"I don't believe you." Finally she looked up at him. Her eyes were blazing with anger but when she met James's green gaze it quickly changed to disappointment and sadness. He put his arms around her and pulled her in to a hug. She rested her head on his chest for a moment and let out a long sigh.

"We had a good run though, didn't we?" she said, with a small smile.

"Yeah, we did. We might not have been overly productive, but we were certainly creative!"

Jessie gave a sad laugh. "I'll miss you James."

"And I'll miss you."


	2. James

It had been three months since James had started travelling with Carmen and he couldn't have been more miserable.

On this particular morning his wake up call sounded something like:

"Get up, you worthless sack of Pokémon dung! Do you just expect the Pokémon to walk in to a Pokéball for you?"

James hauled himself up from the cold ground stumbled from the tent, squinting a little as he emerged in to the bright sunlight.

"Pack up the tent," Carmen ordered.

"Why can't you do it?" James protested, a hint of a whine in his voice.

"Because I told you to! And I'm supposed to be teaching you some discipline but it seems to be taking a long time to soak through your thick skull."

Reluctantly James pulled down the tent and started to roll it up. This was not how he had envisioned his career as a Team Rocket field agent.

"Are you just going to stand around and do nothing all day or are we actually going to catch some Pokémon?" Carmen shouted impatiently.

"I'm putting the tent away! Make up your mind," James grumbled.

An hour later, they were creeping quietly though some thick trees. This was the part of the job James didn't mind. At least Carmen couldn't speak to him. They both travelled in complete silence so as not to scare off any Pokémon.

Whilst enjoying the rare silence, James kept his eyes peeled for anything interesting. He was so distracted looking for Pokémon that he didn't see a large tree root protruding from the ground in front of him. He managed to stop himself before he fell, but stumbled a little.

"Great, that's just great!" Carmen spat angrily, flicking her short, dark hair out of her eyes. "You've probably just scared off every Pokémon between here and Johto. Can't you do anything right?"

James would have liked to tell her that her angry shouting was more likely to have scared off the Pokémon, but he couldn't be bothered arguing.

"I can't work properly with you hanging around me anyway," Carmen continued, turning her back on him. "Why don't you leave this to the professionals? Maybe you can go and try catching a Metapod or something. Although that might prove a little too difficult for you," she said dryly.

"Right," James said. He was feeling very frustrated but he knew better than to disagree with her; he would just end up being attacked by one of her stupid Pokémon.

Despite being made to feel like a badly behaved schoolboy, he was glad to be free of Carmen, at least for a few hours.

Setting off deeper in to the forest, and as far away from Carmen as he could manage, James heard a loud rustling in the undergrowth. He turned around to see an Ekans slither out from under the low branches. It crossed his path but didn't even turn to look at him.

He hadn't seen an Ekans in a long time. It made him think of Jessie.

Things were so different when he was with her, he still got pushed around a bit, but at least it was worth it. Despite their frequently failing plans, he had enjoyed every day.

Trying to put his thoughts of Jessie out of his mind, he continued pushing through the trees. It didn't take him long to give up, however. He slumped down against a tree, watching the sun creep lower and lower in the sky, tinting the horizon pink. He wondered if Jessie was having an equally miserable time with her new partner, Jasper.


	3. Jessie

"Good morning," Jasper said, poking his head into the tent where Jessie had been sleeping. His hair looked like a tangled, brown mop, still sticking up at the back where he had been lying on it.

"Morning," she said, smiling.

"Ready to beat our record?" he said.

"Yes!" Jessie said enthusiastically. "So we need to catch six Pokémon between us before sunset?"

"Exactly," Jasper grinned.

"I'll catch more than you though," Jessie said. "I always do." Jasper just laughed and backed out of the tent.

"And fix your hair, please!" she called after him.

Stretching, Jessie dressed and climbed out of the tent in to the forest clearing. Within five minutes, everything was packed for the day ahead.

"Ready to go?" Jessie asked, quickly running her hands through her magenta hair in an effort to smooth it down.

"Not quite," Jasper said. "There was actually something I wanted to ask you."

"Shoot."

Jasper stood in front of Jessie and took her hands in his. He looked deep in to her eyes, his brown eyes intent upon her blue ones.

"Well, we've been a couple for a few months now, and I have this big family wedding to go to in Sinnoh. I was thinking you and I should go together, you know, as a couple. And you could meet my family, I know they'd love you," he said, with a little nervous laugh.

Jessie was rather taken aback. "Uh... sure," she stammered. "That sounds really nice..."

"Great!" Jasper said, giving her a quick kiss. "Come on then, or we'll never beat our record!" Before Jessie had a chance to say anything else, he was racing away in to the trees. Smiling a little at his excitement, she followed him.

* * *

A week later, they arrived in Sinnoh. It was a few days until the wedding so they took the opportunity to look for some more Pokémon.

Now she was in Sinnoh, Jessie's mind kept wandering to James, wondering what he was doing, where he was, if he was enjoying himself. She missed him. But she was snapped quickly out of her daydreaming by a sharp pain in her ankle.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed, looking down at her leg. There was a little trickle of blood coming from a cut on the side of her ankle. Whatever had scratched her had torn right through her leather boot. The cut stung, but it didn't look very serious.

Jessie decided just to ignore it. It would stop bleeding in a minute.

Then Jasper appeared beside her. "Are you okay?" he asked, concern flashing in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just got a little scratch, that's all. Can we keep going, please?" she said sharply. She hated people fussing over her.

"Sure, let's go." Jasper said, although he still looked a little worried. "I thought I saw a pretty big Pokémon up ahead, it might be something good."

Jessie followed him, but very soon she felt dizzy. She stopped walking and leaned a little on a tree beside her. She tried to steady herself but darkness was beginning to gather at the corners of her eyes.

"Jessie?" Jasper said, reappearing by her side. "You okay?"

"Don't... feel... I don't feel very good..." she said. Suddenly her knees gave way and she slid half way down the tree trunk before Jasper caught her in his muscular arms and laid her on the ground.

"Don't worry, Jess, I've got you."

"No... leave me alone, I'm..." she started, hopelessly trying to pretend she was fine. But before she could finish, a spasm of pain seized her body. She screamed out loud as every muscle in her body tensed in agony.

She expected the pain to stop, but it didn't. She could see nothing but whiteness, her body contorted in agony. She couldn't do anything except lie on the forest floor and scream.

"Jess! Oh God, Jess! Don't worry, I'll get you help."

Then there was silence around her. Jessie could hear nothing but the echoes of her own screams, then even they died away as she slipped in to unconsciousness.

Drifting in and out of consciousness, Jessie only caught glimpses of what was going on around her. She heard urgent voices and the sound of doors opening. Then she felt a soft bed beneath her, and then more voices. She no longer had the energy to scream out, but her body was still seized with a burning, agonising pain that wasn't stopping.

She couldn't hear properly, as though someone was turning the volume of the voices up and down repeatedly, but she caught a few words from around her.

"Help her... what do you... please..." she recognised that voice as Jasper's but then she heard another voice as well.

"Nothing I can do... poisoned... a Pokémon maybe? Need to wait... need the right antidote..."

Jessie could hardly think straight through the pain but mustered the strength to utter a few words.

"Want... James. Get James!" she felt someone take her hand.

"It's alright Jess, I'm here." It was Jasper.

"No!" she screamed, half in anger, half in excruciating pain. "I want James!"


	4. In the Forest

James was, once again, trailing through the forest behind Carmen. It was a very hot day, and he was feeling irritable. He hadn't eaten anything since the day before and was starting to feel the effects as his stomach growled loudly.

"Will you be quiet!" Carmen hissed.

"Sorry," he muttered sarcastically. "I'll try to keep my involuntary stomach noises to a minimum."

"Shhhh!"

James said nothing else, but just kept on walking behind her, scowling at the back of her head. He didn't even tell her when a bug got stuck in her black hair.

Suddenly, Carmen stopped in her tracks and James nearly walked in to her. She was staring fixedly ahead at a large pink Pokémon shuffling about in the grass. It was a Chansey. Even James, in spite of his bad mood, felt a twinge of excitement. It was pretty rare to find a Chansey, and even rarer to manage to catch one.

James wasn't surprised when Carmen whipped around to face him and signalled for him to stay well back, her sharp features contorted in to a fierce scowl. She then proceeded to creep forward, her right hand hovering over a Pokéball on her belt.

Just then, a loud, piercing screech came from above them. The Chansey, startled, looked up to see the two Team Rocket agents and quickly shuffled away in to the undergrowth. James looked up to see a Pidgeot rocketing towards him. He ducked out of the way, wondering why it was trying to attack him. The bird shot past him and turned in a wide circle, slowing down and finally landing in front of him with a soft thud.

Carmen spat with anger, her green eyes blazing with fury.

James, however, was still staring uneasily at the Pidgeot in front of him. It was looking intently at him, ruffling its pale feathers. He noticed a little piece of paper tied to its leg. Assuming it was for him, he reached forward hesitantly. He untied the little piece of string attaching the note to the Pidgeot's leg. As soon as he had done so, the bird shot up from the ground and flew away, quickly becoming no more than a black speck against the pale blue sky.

Still a little startled, James opened the note, ignoring Carmen glaring at him.

_James._

_Jessie is asking for you. She isn't very well._

_She's in hospital at Hearthome City._

_Get here as soon as you can._

_Dr. R._

Jessie was ill? And she was in Sinnoh? Any feelings of hunger he was experiencing disappeared abruptly, only to be replaced by a horrible feeling of dread. He didn't know why Jessie was in Sinnoh, but he was glad she was nearby. Hearthome City was only forty-five minutes away, but he could get there in half an hour if he ran. Stuffing the note in to his pocket, he turned without another thought and began to run from the forest.

"James! Where do you think you're going?" Carmen yelled as she ran after him.

James stopped running and turned around to look at her. "I have to go, I need to get to Hearthome City, it's Jessie. I don't know what's happening, but I need to get there."

"Don't you dare leave!" she snarled.

"I have to," James began.

"If you leave, I'll make sure you never get another assignment with Team Rocket again, mark my words!" Carmen hissed, her eyes blazing again.

"Fine." James answered, meeting her gaze calmly. "You might be a productive field agent, Carmen, but at some point in your life you'll realise that some things are more important than being in Team Rocket."

"James, I'm warning you..." she said.

"Consider me warned, but I'm still leaving."

With that, James turned on his heel and started running again towards Hearthome City, and towards Jessie.


	5. In the Hospital

James didn't know how long her had been running, all he knew was that it was starting to get dark and there were no lights on the road. If he didn't reach Hearthome City soon, he would probably get lost.

To his relief, it wasn't long before long he could see silhouettes on the horizon. Hearthome City! He was almost there.

He didn't stop running until he had burst through the front doors of the hospital. Gasping for breath he staggered up to the front desk.

"J – Jessie," he stammered, fighting to get his breath back. "Where is Jessie?"

The young girl behind the desk looked a little bewildered for a second, but then a look of comprehension dawned on her face.

"You must be James," she said. "I was told to expect you. Jessie is in the first room on the left on the fourth floor." She took one look at his flushed, sweating face and added, "You might want to take the elevator..."

Still gasping for breath, he arrived on the fourth floor and found Jessie's room easily. But as he tried to go through the door in to her room, he found his path blocked by a tall, brown haired man, scowling threateningly at him. This must be Jasper.

"Who are you?" he growled.

"Who the hell do you think I am?" James snapped. He wasn't going to let this man get in his way when he was so close to seeing Jessie.

But Jasper didn't move.

"Get out of my way," James said. As he said it, he heard an agonising scream coming from inside the room. It was Jessie. James had never heard her scream like that.

James pushed past Jasper, ignoring the fact that he was about twice James' width, and hurried in to the room.

And then he saw her, lying on a bed near the back of the room, her face shining with sweat. Her body was contorted in agony, her eyes screwed tightly shut. Tubes and wires connected her to several machines, all beeping furiously.

Looking around, James noticed that a doctor was standing at the other side of the room, violently flicking through a huge textbook.

"What's wrong with her?" James choked, still standing near the door, too shocked and dismayed to move. The doctor looked up from his book, a look of intense frustration in his gray eyes, but as he realised who it was that was speaking to him, he relaxed a little.

"You must be James," he said with a weak smile.

"Yes," he said.

"I'm Dr Redhill. I'm the one who sent you that letter."

"What's wrong with her?" James asked again, not taking his eyes off Jessie.

"That's the problem, I just don't know!" Dr Redhill said, his voice rising a little in frustration.

Controlling himself, he continued.

"She has a wound on her leg, so my suspicion is that she's been bitten by some kind of Poison-type Pokémon. Or it might be both Poison- and Dark-type, but it's nothing I've ever seen before, so I have no idea how to treat it."

"What do you mean you don't know how to treat it?" he said, in disbelief.

"Well we haven't discovered every type of Pokémon yet," Dr Redhill said, looking flustered. "This is a Pokémon that no one has encountered before, so we don't know what it does or how to treat someone who has been poisoned by it."

"So there's nothing we can do?" James asked.

"I'm afraid not. I could try some different antidotes, but they might to more harm than good. I think we'll just have to wait and hope Jessie manages to pull through."

James felt utterly helpless, Jessie could die and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. His stomach twisted painfully as he thought about what would happen if Jessie died. The possibility that he might never see her again… never see her smile again, never see her laugh… it was too much. But there was nothing he could do. Nothing.

He approached her bed, only half aware that Jasper was still standing in the doorway, scowling at him. Her face was whiter than he had ever seen it and beads of sweat glistened on her forehead.

James noticed that there were tears pouring down her face, mingled with the sweat. He had to fight back tears himself. Jessie was usually so strong and independent and there was nothing that could faze her, but now she looked so fragile. It was almost too much for him to handle. Every instinct was telling him to run from the room and pretend that this wasn't happening, but Jessie needed him, she had asked for him and he would never leave her.

James glanced down at her hand. She had her hands clenched so tightly in a fist there was blood oozing out from where her nails were digging in to her palms.

He gently took her hand in his to stop her hurting herself. To his surprise, Jessie's tightly clenched hand relaxed as he held it.

Dr Redhill gave a quick glance at the monitors surrounding Jessie and raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.

"Oh," was all he said.

"What?" James asked,

"Her blood pressure is 160/100," he said.

"What does that mean? Is it bad? She's dying isn't she?" James asked, beginning to panic.

"No, no, that's good. Well, it's still too high, but it's lower than it was before. It should be about 120/80. But I think that's an improvement," he said, looking slightly less tense. "Let's just hope her blood pressure keeps improving, but it could take some time. Would you like me to get you anything? Coffee?"

"Maybe just some water, please," James said. He suddenly realised how parched he was from his long run to the hospital.

The doctor filled him a plastic cup full of water from a water cooler in the corner. James went to take it from him, but as he tried to move away from the bed, Jessie gripped his hand.

"Don't leave…" she murmured. "You can't leave me again, James… don't leave me…"

James whipped around to look at her. Her eyes will still tightly shut, but fresh tears were pouring from beneath her long eyelashes.

"Oh, Jess," James said, squeezing her hand. "I'm not going anywhere. I should never have left you in the first place…"

He quickly became aware of how drained he was. Not letting go of Jessie's hand, he sat himself on the edge of the bed and let himself relax a little. He was still terrified for Jessie, but he was doing everything he could simply by being there with her.

"Hm…" Dr Redhill said suddenly, looking at James, then Jessie, then back to James, as if he had just realised something.

"What?" James asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's nothing. Never mind," he said, and James thought he saw him smile a little as he turned back to his textbook.

A short while later, James took his eyes off Jessie for a moment to check the clock. To his surprise, it was almost midnight. He had been sitting there with Jessie, holding her hand, for over two hours. Glancing around the room, he saw Dr Redhill standing making notes on a clipboard, and saw Jasper sitting on a chair with his head against the wall, apparently fast asleep.

Jessie's body was still tense, and her face was still glistening with sweat. It didn't look like she was getting any better.

"Can I stay here with her?" James asked, his voice hoarse.

"Of course you can," Dr Redhill said. "I could get someone to bring you something to eat, if you'd like?"

"No, thank you," he said. "I'm not hungry." James couldn't remember the last time he had said that. He was _always_ hungry.

"Alright," Dr Redhill said. "I have to leave for a short while just now, but I'll be back every half hour to check on Jessie."

"What if something happens?" James said, fretfully.

"She seems fairly stable for now," he said. "But just in case, there will be a nurse just outside, and I'm not leaving this floor. There will always be someone around."

"Alright," James said, feeling a little less worried. If the doctor thought it was okay to leave her, she must be getting a little better, or at least not getting any worse.

James was exhausted, but he wouldn't be able to sleep until he knew Jessie was safe. He kicked off his shoes and brought his legs up on to the bed, still holding Jessie's hand. With his free hand, he pushed a few stray hairs off her forehead.

He still couldn't shake of the horrible feeling of dread as he looked at her pale face. Anything could go wrong and he could lose her forever. He continued stroking her magenta hair. It had fallen out of its usual style, and was now lying loosely on her shoulders. In spite of everything, she still looked beautiful. If this was the last time he was ever going to see his best friend, he wanted to memorise every detail.

He traced his finger across her forehead, down her cheek, across her perfect jawline and paused at her lips. She had such beautiful lips…

Jessie shifted a little in the bed, and turned on to her side, facing James. Her free hand found his chest, and gripped the front of his shirt as if she was still afraid he was going to leave. She let out a shaky sigh, and seemed to relax a little bit more.

James was a little taken aback at how comfortable she looked and how natural he felt lying beside her. They had slept beside each other for seven solid years, but it had never felt this right.

"What the hell are you doing?" A voice interrupted James's thoughts and he looked up to see Jasper had woken up, and was now standing behind him.

"Leave it, Jasper…" James started, a little taken aback by how angry he was.

"Isn't it about time you left?" Jasper growled.

"No. It isn't. I'm not leaving her."

"I'm sure she'll manage without you," Jasper sneered. "I've been doing a pretty good job of making her happy."

"Is that why she's lying in hospital then?" James snapped. He wasn't used to feeling his temper rise. If there was ever a choice between 'fight' or 'flight', he would almost always take the 'flight' option. When it came to Jessie, however, he would fight to the death to defend her.

"That was no more my fault than yours," Jasper shot back.

"I disagree, it is _much_ more your fault than mine. If you had been taking better care of her, she wouldn't even have got in to this mess."

"That was not my fault!" Jasper shouted, his eyes blazing.

Jessie let out a small whimper and pulled herself closer to James, her head now resting on his chest. James put his arm round her, and she relaxed again.

"Can't you just go?" Jasper growled, more quietly so as not to disturb Jessie. "She's _my _girlfriend, I should be the one looking after her."

Girlfriend?! That would explain why he was being so protective. James couldn't help the stab of jealousy he felt. He pulled Jessie a little closer to him.

"We've been friends a long time," he said, defensively. "She probably just missed me."

But Jasper didn't look convinced.

"We're just friends..." but James stopped speaking as he realised he was lying. Jessie wasn't just his friend. She was so much more than that and it had taken her nearly dying to make him realise it.


	6. Epiphany

James woke the next morning without remembering ever closing his eyes. His head was resting on top of Jessie's head and he could smell her familiar, comforting scent. He had missed her so much.

Sunlight was streaming through the window, but James kept his eyes shut. He was still in that blissful few moments after waking up, half awake, yet still half asleep where everything was perfect, and none of life's problems mattered.

He let his imagination drift off with him and he pictured himself lying in a soft, warm double bed next to Jessie in a beautiful house by the sea.

In a few minutes he would gently kiss Jessie's forehead, quietly slip out of bed and head towards the kitchen, careful not to wake Meowth who would be lying curled comfortably in a basket at the end of their bed.

He would then go about making breakfast for Jessie, exactly the way she liked it, two slices of toast, a glass of orange juice and steaming mug of black coffee. Jessie would wake up to see James standing in the doorway with her breakfast on a tray and she would smile at him, her eyes would light up like they always did when he did something kind for her…

But James could feel himself slowly drifting back to reality, he tried to cling on to the dream but his perfect morning with Jessie was slipping away and the harsh reality of the situation was coming back to him.

Yes, he was lying next to Jessie but not in a luxurious double bed, he was on an uncomfortable hospital bed with barely enough room for both of them. He wouldn't kiss Jessie before making her breakfast. If she managed to survive, Jasper would be the one to take her home, look after her, bring her breakfast in bed and kiss her… James would be left alone, never being able to tell his best friend that he was in love with her, because she was in love with Jasper.

Finally, James opened his eyes. The bright sunlight blinded him for a moment until his eyes became accustomed to the light. Squinting around the room he spotted Dr Redhill writing on his clipboard.

"Hey, doc," James said in a hushed voice.

"Oh! You're awake. Good," he said, smiling.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Well, I don't want to jump to any hasty conclusions, but it looks like she's doing very well. I think her body managed to get rid of most of the Pokémon poison by itself."

"Oh, good," James said, relieved. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted from him, although he wouldn't stop worrying about Jessie until she was awake.

"James?" Dr Redhill asked.

"Yes?"

"I wonder if you would try a little experiment with me."

"What kind of experiment?" James asked curiously.

"If you can untangle yourself for Jessie without waking her, come over here," he said with a small smile.

James felt himself blush a little when he realised how intertwined he had become with Jessie. He had both his arms around her, with his head resting on top of hers. She had one of her hands resting on his chest and one of her legs on his.

Removing himself from the tangle of limbs he managed, with some difficulty, to slip off the bed and walk over to the doctor.

Almost as soon as he had done that however, Jessie began to get agitated. She started taking short, shallow breaths as if she was panicking and the heart rate monitor next to her started beeping more quickly.

James looked to Dr Redhill in alarm.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked. "Why is she getting worse?"

"It's nothing to worry about, James. Now I want you to go back over to her and we will see what happens."

James did as he was told and hurried back over to Jessie to comfort her. He slipped back on to the bed and took her hand in his. Only a few seconds after that, Jessie stopped panicking. She let out a long sigh as she felt James beside her.

"I knew it!" Dr Redhill said, grinning.

"You knew what?" James said.

"You are the cure for Jessie's poisoning," he said.

"I don't understand, I didn't do anything," James said, thoroughly confused.

"You didn't need to do anything. I think the poison that Jessie was affected by was completely psychological. In other words, all the pain and panic was in her head."

"So..?" James said, a little confused.

"So the only cure for her was to have someone with her who could comfort her, someone who has helped her through fear and pain before, someone she trusts with her life. That's you James."

"Me?" James said in disbelief. "What about Jasper? He would have been a much better person to help her, he's her boyfriend, he should be here with her." The word 'boyfriend' caught in his throat and he felt an fresh spark of resentment towards Jasper.

"Well, clearly Jasper wasn't the person she wanted. When she was scared, her instincts just took over and she wanted _you._ Well, that's my professional opinion anyway," he said with a sly grin.

Still a little startled, James hesitated for a few minutes before speaking again.

"I never really knew I was in love with her," James said, out of the blue. "Not until I heard she was sick. I thought what I felt for her was just friendship…"

James tailed off, absent-mindedly stroking Jessie's hair. He was very quickly beginning to see his friendship with Jessie in a whole new light, and if he was honest with himself, it terrified him.

"All this time I've been in love with her, and I was too scared to admit it to myself let alone to her!" he exclaimed suddenly, angry at himself.

Dr Redhill didn't say anything, he just stood there, listening. James was glad of this though, he needed someone just to listen to him thinking out loud.

"I can't believe I nearly lost her. If she had died…"

James swallowed hard as a lump rose in his throat. He couldn't bear to imagine what would have happened if he had lost Jessie. It was too horrible to think about. It made him physically hurt to think of what it would feel like to never see her face again.

"Well, are you going to tell her?" asked Dr Redhill who was now in the corner of the room, sifting through a large pile of files.

"I don't think I ever could. I'd be too afraid to lose her as a friend. She's happy with Jasper, so I'll just have to be happy that she's happy." James said. _Easier said than done, _he added to himself. "It's probably better that she doesn't know how I feel anyway. I just can't help wondering what would happen if she knew I was in love with her…"

James glanced down at Jessie and to his horror, she was awake. Her head was still resting on his chest but her bright blue eyes were stretched wide as she stared at him, having heard every single word he had said.

"Oh God…"


	7. Choices

James said nothing, he just stared at Jessie with his heart pounding in his throat. They lay there with their eyes locked for a few long moments and their gaze was only broken when they heard a loud click behind them. James looked round to see the door closing and Dr Redhill disappearing round the corner. Jasper's chair was empty.

They were completely alone.

James looked back at Jessie, who had still said nothing. He felt vaguely sick.

After what felt like several minutes, Jessie finally spoke,

"What are you doing here?" she asked groggily. Although he had been hoping for a slightly different response, there was a part of him that was relieved that she hadn't instantly shot him down.

"I heard you were ill, so I came to see you to make sure you were okay. You got bitten by something and it poisoned you. You've been out of it for nearly a day."

He suddenly became very aware of how closely they were lying and slipped off the bed, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably, trying to disguise his embarrassment. He pulled up a nearby chair and sat by her bed instead.

"Of course I'm okay," she said quietly, but James new better. She had the little frown lines between her eyebrows that she always got when she wasn't feeling well.

"Come on Jess, it's me," James said looking straight in to her deep blue eyes, "you don't always have to act so tough."

Usually when he said something like this, she just ignored him but to his surprise, she began to cry.

"Jess, what is it?" he asked, shocked.

"After I collapsed..." she said, through her sobs, "I saw all these horrible things."

"What things?" James asked.

"I kept seeing you..." she said, but tailed off as a fresh wave of tears came over her. "I kept seeing you... dying. I saw you dying in so many different ways, over and over again and I couldn't stop it, I was just watching and I was trying to help but I couldn't move and you were being hurt and I couldn't do anything. It was horrible, seeing you lying there, all covered in blood, not breathing..." she had to stop speaking again to gasp for air between her sobs.

"Well, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere, I promise," he said, climbing back on to the bed and putting his arm around her.

After a few moments, she had calmed down enough to be breathing normally again. She still looked exhausted. She was obviously still in shock from her ordeal and James was a little glad that she didn't seem to have registered what he had said about being in love with her. He wiped away the tears still slipping down her face and she looked up at him.

"I love you too," she whispered and closed her eyes.

James stared at her, speechless, but before he could think of anything else to say, she had fallen asleep in his arms.

He was suddenly distracted by footsteps behind him and turned around to see the doctor walking back in to the room.

"How are things?" he asked James.

"Alright," he choked. "She was telling me what happened when she was poisoned. She said she kept seeing me being killed in lots of different ways, what kind of Pokémon would do that?"

"I have no idea," Dr Redhill said, "but I've been talking to a few other doctors from neighbouring towns and a few of them have seen this before. It looks like this Pokémon makes its victim watch their own worst fear played over and over again in their mind so they are too afraid and shocked to run away. Not a very pleasant Pokémon, I have to say."

"No..." James agreed absent-mindedly. Jessie's worst fear had been him dying. Not Jasper, not herself, but him. Maybe she really did love him.

"Is she asleep?" the doctor asked.

James nodded

"I think she'll feel almost back to normal when she wakes up, so why don't you go and get some rest too? And maybe get something to eat? I've got the on-call room booked for now, you can go and sleep in there if you like."

It wasn't until the doctor had mentioned the prospect of a nice long sleep that he realised how tired he was. He had dozed off a few times, but he hadn't had a proper sleep in nearly two days.

"I think I'll go to bed," he said. Standing up, he leaned down to kiss Jessie on the forehead. "Sweet dreams," he whispered.

As James walked out the door, he saw Jasper slouched in a chair, resting his head against the side of a vending machine. When he saw James he looked up at him as though expecting news.

"She's still asleep," he said. "The doctor says she'll be as a good as new after a long sleep."

Jasper just nodded.

"Will you come and get me when she wakes up?" James asked.

Jasper just nodded again. It looked like he was getting the cold shoulder, although James couldn't really blame him.

Leaving Jasper, he walked up the corridor and found the on-call room easily. He slipped inside and collapsed on to the bed. He didn't even bother taking his shoes off. The last thing he saw before sleep overwhelmed him was a little digital clock on the window sill. It read 1.36pm.

James opened his eyes after what felt like only a few seconds and glanced at the clock. It said 12.05am.

"I slept for 11 hours?" he muttered to himself. Heaving himself off the bed, he stretched, looking around the room.

Wandering over to the window, he pulled up the blinds. To his surprise he was nearly blinded by bright sunlight. Staring back at the clock he realised that it didn't read 12.05am, it read 12.05pm. He had slept for almost 23 hours.

"Jesus!" he muttered. "Why did no one wake me up? He threw the door open and ran back to the ward.

He heard voices coming from inside Jessie's room as he hurried along the corridor.

"Jasper, come on! How hard is to fold up a shirt? Move, let me do it."

Despite being annoyed that no one had woken him, James couldn't help but smile. Jessie was obviously feeling much better if she was managing to boss people around.

But as he rounded the corner, his annoyance returned.

"What's going on?" he said, poorly disguising his anger, because when he walked in, he saw Jessie fully clothed, her hair was clean and back in its usual dramatic style and she was standing next to Jasper. She had a black bag in her hand and was stuffing her dirty clothes in to it.

"You're leaving?" he said, incredulously.

"Of course I am," she replied. "I'm feeling better and there's no time to waste, we need to get back to work."

"But..."

"You should get going too, James," she added. "Carmen will be wondering what's taking you so long."

James couldn't believe it. He wasn't sure what he had expected to happen, but he hadn't expected them to both go their separate ways again.

"It was great seeing you, James," she said, smiling. She walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek before turning on her heel and saying,

"Hurry up Jasper, I don't have all day."

But James was suddenly seized by a kind of possessiveness he hadn't felt before. He lunged forward and grabbed Jessie's wrist and pulled her back to him so their faces were just inches apart.

"James! What are you..."

"I let you go once before, Jessie, and I'm sure as hell not about to do it again."

She glared at him defiantly, her eyes burning annoyance.

"James, I have to go," she said curtly. "I can't take any more time off, this is my job on the line."

"Screw your job," he said, "let's go and do something different, together."

"You don't mean that, you're being ridiculous," she said. "You need to go back to work and so do I. It's a good job we both have."

"I can't go back to work Jess," he growled. "Carmen made me choose between my job and coming to be with you, and I chose you. I've lost my job. Come on Jessie, choose me."

Jessie stared at him, wide-eyed for a moment as though she couldn't believe he had given up his job in Team Rocket. She glanced over her shoulder at Jasper who was standing at the door, saying nothing but looking furious.

"Do you love him?" James muttered so Jasper wouldn't hear.

Jessie paused for a moment then shook her head sadly.

"Do you love me?" he asked. There used to be a time where asking that question would have terrified him, but now all he could feel was passion and anger burning inside him.

After another long pause, Jessie stared straight in to his bright green eyes, and nodded.

"Then stay," he said simply.

"I'm sorry, James," she whispered. "I can't." With that, she pulled her hand away from him and hurried out the room with Jasper following close behind. He shot James a filthy look before rounding the corner and disappearing out of sight.

He had asked Jessie to choose between her job and him and she had chosen her job.

Despite never managing to catch any Pokémon, Jessie had stayed with him and Meowth for years. James had been stupid enough assume she was staying for him, when really she was staying out of determination to succeed in her career. It was like everything he had ever believed about Jessie, about their friendship, about their time as partners, was all crashing down around him.

James just stared blankly out of the door after her. He could feel nothing, no anger, no sadness, nothing except a dull ache in his chest as if Jessie has ripped a piece out of him and taken it with her.

"Thanks for everything," he said vacantly to Dr Redhill as strode out of the door, out of the hospital and in to the thick forest nearby.


	8. Conflict

Jessie sat on the forest floor, leaning against a huge oak tree. She was twirling her long magenta hair absent-mindedly between her fingers as she gazed across the little clearing that she and Jasper had set up camp in. It hadn't been far away from this spot that she had been bitten a few days ago.

Being back in nearly the same place made it feel like nothing had changed. Jessie let herself imagine that instead of being bitten, she and Jasper had just continued walking and set up camp for the night; and instead of spending days in hospital in agony she had fallen asleep in a warm tent. But that hadn't been the case she had lost nearly two days of her life in unconsciousness.

For a few blissful moments, she imagined how life would be without all her complex relationships; where the only thing she had to worry about was doing her job. She loved her job. Was it too much to ask for that to be all she had to think about?

But her reverie was interrupted when Jasper wandered over to her and she was brought crashing back to her overly complicated life.

"Want something to eat?" he asked.

"I'm not hungry," she replied, shortly.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. She could see the concern in his warm brown eyes but she couldn't bring herself to be nice to him. Her every instinct told her to push people away who tried to help her. She had to make an active effort most of the time to be nice to people. The only exception had been when she was with James... but right now she didn't have the energy or the patience to muster up any sympathy or kindness.

"I'm fine. Can I just have some time to myself, please?"

"Alright," Jasper said, looking a little exasperated.

Ignoring this, Jessie stood up and strode over to their little green tent and crawled inside. She kicked off her boots and lay down. Throwing a blanket over herself, she attempted to shut out the rest of the world.

In the dark and the quiet, she tried to go to her happy place. She imagined a huge, green forest filled with the sounds of hundreds of wild Pokémon just waiting to be captured and sent to the Boss.

She was there with her own Pokémon and her companion. But as she tried to imagine who that companion was, she realised she couldn't identify him. She couldn't work out if it was Jasper or James she was with. Maybe it was neither.

The comforting feeling of being in her happy place was fading and confusion and sadness took over instead. With her head still buzzing with confused, conflicting thoughts, she drifted in to an uneasy sleep.

She was woken the next morning by Jasper trying to pull on his socks and shuffle quietly out the tent. She was feeling considerably more positive than she had the night before. Perhaps all she had needed was a good night's sleep to lift her sprits.

She couldn't help but smile as she watched Jasper awkwardly tip-toe around the mass of blankets and pillows that made up the floor of the tent.

"Oh, you're awake," he said, a little tentatively as he noticed her watching him. He had clearly not forgotten how short she had been with him the night before.

"Yeah," she said with a smile. She would never actually say she was sorry, that wasn't her style, but she wanted to make it clear to Jasper that she was in much higher spirits after her long sleep.

"What's for breakfast?" she continued. "I'm starving!"

When they finally arrived back at the camp that night, they had been on their feet for nearly ten hours. It had been a very successful day of Pokémon. Jessie had even caught a purple Staraptor, something neither she nor Jasper had ever seen before. She knew the Boss would be impressed with such a rare colour of Pokémon.

Although she loved the feeling of satisfaction of successfully catching Pokémon, there was a little part of her that missed the challenge of constantly being in pursuit of the twerps and their Pikachu. She, James and Meowth had been tested to their limits every day, trying to think of new Pikachu-proof traps. There had been a great deal of frustration, certainly, but it had been so much fun!

Still deep in thought, Jessie flopped down on to the soft grass outside the tent as Jasper wandered around gathers sticks to make a fire.

"That was a really good day's work," Jessie said enthusiastically.

"It was!" Jasper agreed. "We make a pretty awesome team, you and me."

"Yeah," Jessie said with a satisfied smile. She would be lying if she said she hadn't grown rather fond of Jasper over the last few months. He had proved himself to be a formidable Pokémon trainer as well as a very skilled Team Rocket field agent, not to mention being a kind and loving companion to her...

Jasper dumped a small pile of wood in the middle of the clearing, sat down beside her and kissed her on the cheek. He lay down on the grass, exhausted, and Jessie followed suit. As he put his arm round her, she realised just how tired she was.

"Hey Jessie?" he said suddenly.

"Yeah?" she said sleepily.

"I've been doing a bit of thinking,"

"Ooh, be careful with that, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself," she said with a sly smile.

"Shut up and let me finish!" he said, laughing. "Like I said, I've been doing a bit of thinking and I know that you miss James a lot, I get that, but we make an amazing team too. And we're so productive! We must be sending the Boss about three Pokémon a day!"

Jessie scowled a little as she noticed the poorly disguised insult at James and their terrible track record. It was true they hadn't been very good at catching Pokémon, but she still felt a stab of protectiveness over James. Whether Jasper was speaking the truth or not, she didn't like him poking fun at James.

"I mean," he continued, "I've never met anyone as talented as you and I think together we could make the greatest Rocket couple there has ever been. We could go down in history! I want to stick with you for the rest of my life because we are so good together."

With a jolt, Jessie began to realise where this speech was headed. Her heart started racing and she sat up. Jasper sat up too, looked her straight in the eye and said,

"Jessie, will you marry me?"


	9. True Colours

**A/N Well, it only took me two years to finish this chapter - not bad really! The next chapters will be up over the next week or so. I hope you enjoy and please review!**

* * *

Jessie suddenly felt very overwhelmed. She pushed herself away from Jasper and stood up. Despite the cool breeze on the air, she began to feel uncomfortably warm.

"Well?" Jasper asked, watching her intently.

"I..." she started, not entirely sure about what she was going to say. "I can't."

She half expected him to look hurt, but instead he just looked irritated.

"Why not?" he asked sharply.

"I'm not really wife material," she said vaguely. That wasn't completely true, though. She could imagine herself being someone's wife some day, just not Jasper's.

"That's not really an excuse," Jasper said, standing up too.

"Look," Jessie said, getting a little irritated. "I don't want to get married and that's that."

"I bet you'd have said yes to that loser, James..." he said only half seriously with a note of derision in his voice.

"Hey!" Jessie said, angrily, immediately jumping to James' defence. Jasper suddenly looked even more irritated.

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "You don't really have feelings for that moron, do you?"

"You'd better watch who you are talking about," Jessie growled, fighting the urge to throw something at Jasper's sneering face.

"Why would you even care about someone like that when you have me?" he asked. "James couldn't catch a Pokémon if it sat in front of him and begged for it."

"He's a better man than you could ever be!" she shouted.

"He's a pathetic loser! He's not good enough for you and he's certainly not good enough for Team Rocket! He'd be better off - " But Jessie knew where that sentence was going and she wasn't going to let him finish it. She grabbed the first thing she could lay her hands on which was one of the Pokéballs in her belt and hurled it at Jasper. It collided with his head with a thud. Jasper just stared at her with a look of contemptuous disbelief.

"I thought you had ambition, Jess," he said, shaking his head. "But you'll never be anything more than a useless Rocket grunt without me."

"You've really shown your true colours tonight, Jasper," she replied. "I'd rather have no job at all than work with you for another second."

She turned on her heel, abandoning all her belongings except the Pokéballs she carried around her waist and strode away from Jasper, truly hoping she never saw him again.

She walked for at least an hour before she felt she was far enough away from Jasper. Now that she had time to process what had just happened, she realised that beneath all her anger she felt pretty betrayed. She had trusted Jasper, as much as she was capable of. She had let him get close to her. She thought she knew him quite well but as it turned out, he had a jealous, unkind streak within him that made him a much less attractive person. She thought back to the relaxed evenings they had spent together by their little campfire, discussing work and talking about their lives and she couldn't help but feel a deep sense of regret. How could their pleasant, easy relationship have taken such a bad turn? And how could she not have noticed the bitter, angry side of the man she had lived and worked with for three months?

All she could think about now was getting back to James. If she was with him, she would feel safer. He may not even want to speak to her after the way she left him in the hospital, but she had to at least try. When she had been with him, things had been so much better. She had to find him.


	10. Mind Games

James awoke with the strange feeling that he was being watched. He sat bolt upright and looked around, squinting in the dim early morning light. There was no one else nearby. He had fallen asleep next to a little stream which was gurgling calmly beside him. He could feel a knot in his stomach and it took a few seconds for him to remember why he felt so tense. His whole life had crashed down about his ears. That was why.

He got up and approached the stream. Just as he splashed his face with the cool water, he heard a noise behind him, like someone or something moving through the undergrowth.

"Hello?" he asked, staring around at the bushes that surrounded his sleeping spot. He heard the same noise again, but this time it was louder, closer.

"Jessie?" he called. There was no reply. Of course there was no reply, Jessie had made her choice, she had chosen Jasper over him. Personally, James thought Jasper was an arrogant, demanding ass, but that was beside the point. Telling himself that the loud rustling was probably just a Pokémon passing by, he ran his fingers through his lilac hair and stood up. No sooner had he done this when he stepped on something sharp.

"Owwwww!" he moaned, rubbing his foot. He looked down to see what he had stepped on but he could see nothing except grass and leaves. Then, for a third time, he heard a rustling behind him.

More quickly this time, he whipped around to see a Pokémon standing just a few feet away from him. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. It had the body and tail of a scorpion, but the black, furry, eight legs of a spider. It stared him down with its solitary yellow eye, its tail arched and quivering over its back. It looked angry - probably because James had just stepped on it - and he didn't want to stick around to see what it was going to do about it. Never breaking eye contact with the strange bug thing, he started to back away from it but as he moved, it became increasingly more difficult to manoeuvre his limbs. His legs felt heavy and he caught his foot on a rock. His arms wouldn't move fast enough to catch him before he fell, so he landed on the cold ground with a painful thud. With a huge effort he pushed himself further away from the creature until his back hit a tree and that was where he stayed. He reached for one of the Pokéballs on his belt; he didn't care which Pokémon he sent out, he just needed one of them to get help for him. His fingertips grazed the smooth surface of one of the Pokéballs. He grabbed it blindly and let it fall to the ground. It rolled a little way away from him and bumped in to the scorpion thing. No Pokémon appeared. He had thrown an empty Pokéball. He tried to reach for another one when his arms went limp altogether.

He tried to keep tabs on the aggressive looking Pokémon but his vision was blurring. He started seeing double, then triple. He blinked hard, trying to clear his vision and discovered that his eyes were not playing tricks on him, there really were three of the scorpion Pokémon approaching him now and even more were emerging from the woods. Then everything faded to black.

* * *

Despair enveloped him when his fears were confirmed; these were the same Pokémon that attacked Jessie. But unfortunately for him, there was no one around to help him. Lost in the middle of a deep forest, no one would hear his screams.

For what felt like hours, perhaps days, James lay on the ground, paralysed by blinding, white hot pain. He just wanted the agony to end. Finally, at long last, it did. But in just a few moments, he would come to realise that the pain was actually preferable to what was about to happen.

He opened his eyes and to his relief, the Pokémon were gone. He had no idea how he had survived that ordeal. He was not nearly as strong as Jessie, physically or mentally. Being poisoned by that Pokémon had left Jessie completely drained, but now that the pain had passed, James felt alright. Exhausted, but alright. He could feel a cold sweat still dripping down his face, but when he went to wipe his brow, he found that his arms wouldn't move at all, nor would his legs. He was completely immobile and he was beginning to feel a little panicked when something caught his eye. He could have sworn he just saw a flash of magenta amongst the trees.

"Jessie?" he croaked. And this time, it really was her. She emerged from the gloom, a relieved smile on her face. The relief he felt was almost overwhelming. She had come back to him.

"James," she breathed. "I have been looking for you everywhere!"

He was about to tell her about his - hopefully temporary - paralysis when he saw something that made his mouth drop open. The Boss followed Jessie from out of the trees.

"Jessie, what's the Boss doing here?" he asked. She was still smiling when she said,

"I brought him here. I wanted you to hear it from the Boss himself."

"Hear what?" he asked.

"Well, for a start, you've been kicked out of Team Rocket," she said with a little shrug. "I asked the Boss to get rid of you because you're... well, you're a bit clingy and I didn't want you teaming up with me again.

"The truth is, I never really liked you. You were pretty easy to boss around which was fun for a while but now I'm bored, so it's for the best that you leave. I'll be so much better off without you," she finished, with a casual smile on her face.

James couldn't believe his ears. All his worst fears about his life with Jessie, their relationship, were coming true.

"Jessie," he began, his voice catching in his throat.

"James, don't whine," she said, abruptly. "I don't want to be with you. I never have and I never will. You have to accept that."

James looked to Giovanni as he stood quietly behind Jessie, a look of great pleasure on his face. Then in one swift movement, for absolutely no reason, the Boss put his arm around Jessie's neck and snapped it like a twig. James yelled out in horror as he watched Jessie fall in to a crumpled heap on the ground, the ghost of a smile still playing on her lips. Giovanni just raised an eyebrow at James and disappeared back in to the trees.

James struggled relentlessly against his invisible bonds, desperately trying to reach his best friend with hot tears streaming down his face. He looked urgently around, hoping against hope that someone might be passing by, but the forest was empty. And dead silent.

When he looked back to Jessie, she had gone.

"What – " James gasped, staring around. Jessie's broken body had been lying just feet from him and now it had vanished. What was going on?

Confused and scared, he closed his eyes. He had no idea what had just happened, where Jessie's body had gone or why he couldn't move. Then he heard footsteps. His eyes snapped open and he looked up to see Jessie standing in front of him, alive and well.

"Jessie!"

"James! I have been looking for you everywhere."

"You've... what?" James said, utterly confused. But then realisation hit him.

He knew what was happening. He probably wasn't even awake, trapped inside his own mind watching his worst fears unfold before him. This was exactly what had happened to Jessie and he knew that the worst part of his ordeal was only beginning.

James was going to have to watch his best friend – the love of his life – be killed over and over again.

Hours went by and he watched Jessie get stabbed, poisoned, beaten... Every time he watched her slender body fall limp to the ground was as horrible as the last. Sometimes she would appear before him and tell him how much she disliked him, other times she would proclaim her love only to be killed seconds later.

At one point, his would-be-wife, Jessiebelle appeared. She told him that they were going to get married, be together forever, but first she had to get rid of Jessie. And that's exactly what she did.

Time began to lose all meaning. All he knew was that he had seen the life leave Jessie's eyes thirty seven times, each time by a completely different, yet equally distressing method. He tried to tell himself that this was all in his head, that none of it was real, but this Pokémon knew exactly what he feared, what kept him awake at night and it was going to make him experience it.

By the time Jessie had been murdered forty two times, he was so distraught and exhausted that all he wanted was for this ordeal to stop, he didn't care how, he just wanted to be out of this misery.

"James! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

She appeared in front of him again. Once again, he watched the love of his life die.

"James! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Over and over again.

"James! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

And it wasn't stopping.

* * *

**A/N Apologies if this chapter is a little dark for some, but I liked it as a nice insight in to what Jessie would have experienced when she was poisoned as well as some of James' fears. The next chapter will be up in a couple of days, it just needs some fine tuning. Please take a second to review!**


	11. Lost

**A/N Thank you all so much for your reviews, and a special thanks to all of you who have come back to this story despite the two year break! Your comments really mean the world to me. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Jessie wandered sadly through the trees. She had started looking for James full of determination and excitement but now she was tired, hungry and beginning to feel a little defeated. Part of her wasn't even sure if James would want to see her again.

Above her, the tops of the trees were whispering as they moved in the wind but down amongst the bushes the air was cold and still.

She was following a little stream as it wound its way through the forest. She knew that James always liked to stay near streams; he said the running water helped him get to sleep at night. But Jessie had no idea if he was even still in the forest, let alone near water. She trudged along, grateful for the first time that she had no other belongings with her beside her Pokéballs.

She had a rather girly, _eeew-it's-a-bug_ moment as a big spider-like Pokémon whisked out in front of her and back in to the undergrowth. She felt a little embarrassed for being so easily startled and was extremely glad that no one had been around to see her freak out. She had a reputation to uphold, after all.

The _whooshing_ noise of the trees seemed to getting louder as she carried on but when she looked up, the treetops had gone still. She stopped and stood motionless, listening hard. The whispering of what she thought was the wind was actually coming from ahead of her. She moved through the trees more quietly until she found the source and it made her blood run cold.

She was beyond freaking out when she saw at least a hundred black bug Pokémon, each of them at least as big as a Pikachu. There were so many of them that they had become an almost indistinguishable mass of black. The hiss of eight hundred furry legs moving around was revolting, but this wasn't what made Jessie gasp out loud. She had caught sight of a flash of lavender hair amongst the inky, swarming waves.

As soon as the gasp of horror escaped her lips, the creatures fell silent. Every one of them turned to look at her with their shining yellow eyes. A little voice in her head murmured _run. _But she stood completely still. _RUN _the voice said, more forcefully this time, but she ignored her instincts. Very slowly, she moved her hand towards her belt, trying to fight the panic rising in her chest.

The second she laid a finger on one of her Pokéballs, the mass of bugs readied themselves to attack. A hundred barbed tails shot up in to the air and they advanced on her, rustling and clicking.

Throwing caution to the wind, she grabbed her Pokéballs and threw them in to the fray. Her Arbok burst out and immediately started tackling, poisoning and biting any of the bugs that came near it. Then her Wobbuffet emerged. For a minute, it looked confused.

"Protect James!" Jessie shouted and immediately Wobbuffet began wading through the mass of bugs and planted itself firmly in front of her apparently unconscious companion. Every time one of the black Pokémon tried to get near James, Wobbuffet would use Counter to keep it at bay.

While the swarm of Pokémon was occupied by the attack, Jessie crept around the black mass until she reached James.

He was deathly pale and wasn't moving. Jessie couldn't even work out if he was breathing. She pulled the two Pokéballs from James's belt and sent out his Weezing and Victreebel to join the battle.

"James!" she hissed. He remained still. With a sinking feeling, she knew what had happened to him. There was no doubt in her mind that he had been poisoned by the same thing that she had. Jessie had no idea how long James had been in this condition, he might not make a recovery...

Knowing she only had seconds before the swarm would notice her, she grabbed her partner by the arm and heaved him off the ground. She swiped up an empty Pokéball that he must have dropped and began to drag him away from the little stream and deeper in to the woods. Using both arms to drag James, she couldn't reach her Pokéballs to call back either her or James's Pokémon.

She only stopped when the hiss of the horde of bug Pokémon had disappeared and so had the sounds of her own Pokémon. They were too far away now to call back to their Pokéballs. She lay James on the ground and placed her hand on his chest. She could feel the gentle rise and fall of his breathing, but it was weak and ragged.

"James," she said, giving his shoulders a shake. "Wake up, James. Please." But he still didn't stir. She had no idea what to do.

"Oh God, James, what do I do?" She had to get him back to the hospital as soon as possible, but his slender body was more muscular than it appeared; he was deceptively heavy. Jessie had barely managed to drag him away from danger before her legs were getting weak. She couldn't even send for help; neither her nor James's Pokémon would be able find their way back to Hearthome City fast enough. Ideally, she needed a flying Pokémon. She dearly wished she had brought the Staraptor she had caught with Jasper, but her ex-partner had kept it.

As if on cue, a little Starly hopped out in to the open. Jessie's hand automatically went to her belt before she realised she had no empty Pokéballs. She took the Pokéball that James had dropped and threw it at the small bird. There was a flash of light but instead of the Starly going _in _to the ball, something came _out. _One of the horrible black scorpion Pokémon emerged. The Starly let out a horrified screech and Jessie couldn't help but join in. The bird shot in to the air and had vanished within seconds.

"You caught one?!" she yelled at her unconscious partner as she watched the gross bug walk around making little clicking noises. It seemed slightly more tame than its wild counterparts but she still didn't trust it as far as she could throw it. She had no idea what to call it, so she just said "return" and placed the Pokéball very far away from where she stood.

"What did you catch one for?" she asked in disbelief.

She began pacing in front of James, starting to panic. She had no plan and absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do now.

"I should never have left you," she said suddenly, covering her mouth with her hands. "I'm so sorry." She tried to take a few steadying breaths and think of a plan, but all she could think of was James and how different things would have been if she had just stayed with him.

She paced for a few more minutes before saying, "Jasper asked me to marry him."

For the first time, James stirred a little, but remained unconscious.

"I said no," Jessie continued. "All he talked about was how profitable and advantageous our career would be. Overall, I'd say the whole situation lacked a little romance," she sighed, talking more to herself now. She looked around through the growing darkness, finding the complete silence a little unnerving now.

She desperately wanted to go back and find her Pokémon but she couldn't leave James.

"I didn't love Jasper," she continued. She found talking out loud was the only way she could stay calm. "Turns out he could be pretty mean." She still felt a little hurt by Jasper's angry outburst, especially the things he had said about James.

"God, James, would you just wake up!" she burst out suddenly. "I don't know what I'll do without you!" She felt dampness on her cheeks and realised she was crying. She angrily wiped the tears from her face. She fell to her knees beside James and put her hand on his face. "You have to be okay," she whispered. A moment later, she heard movement behind her and leapt to her feet, half expecting another group of angry Pokémon to jump out at her.

But when she turned, she saw that it was her Arbok slinking out of the bushes with Weezing and Victreebel just behind. She let out a shaky sigh of relief.

"Where's Wobbuffet?" she asked suddenly. "The _one time_ I actually want it to appear, it goes AWOL," she muttered. She spent the best part of her days irritated at Wobbuffet, but she couldn't help the surge of affection she felt towards the hopeless thing. Just then, Wobbuffet came waddling from the bushes. All of the Pokémon looked a little worse for wear, but they seemed relatively unharmed.

"You guys did great," she said, with a weak smile and returned them to their Pokéballs for a well earned rest. Now slightly less frantic after the return of her Pokémon, she sat down beside James. She put a hand on his forehead, pushing his hair off his face. He felt cold. She let her poor, battered Arbok back out of its Pokéball to keep an eye on James while she hurried off to grab some firewood.

A short while later there was a warm little campfire beside James but when Jessie felt his temperature again he was still cold. It was beginning to get dark so any hope of moving on was quickly disappearing. The chill air was beginning to get to her too. So she made a decision.

"Look, James, I'm sure you can hear me," she said matter-of-factly, "it's getting pretty cold so I think we should do what the Piplups do and... you know... huddle up." Even though he was unconscious, Jessie still felt a little embarrassed. "You understand," she continued, "that this is purely a common-sense arrangement."

She curled up beside James and put a tentative arm across his chest. This felt oddly familiar and comforting. She realised that this was the position in which she had woken up in the hospital just a few days before. She could feel James's chest rise and fall. His breathing was deeper now; he sounded a little better so she let the rhythmic sound of his breathing lull her to sleep.

* * *

Jessie awoke when she felt breathing on her face. She snapped open her eyes and let out a shriek of shock when she saw a Pokémon staring at her, just inches from her face. The Pokémon yelled too and took a step back. Since when did Pokémon yell? Then Jessie realised who it was.

"Meowth?!" she exclaimed.

"That's right," he said, grinning.

"You scared the hell out of me!" Jessie exclaimed, feeling her heart pounding against her ribs. "Why were you watching me sleep?!"

"You just looked so peaceful," Meowth joked. "And you look a damn sight better than Jimmy here. What did you do to him?"

"Hey, I didn't do anything!" Jessie said, a little more aggressively than she had intended. But she saw the humour in Meowth's eyes and said, more gently, "It's good to see you."

"Yeah, you too."

"What are you doing here?"

"I heard through the grapevine that you and Jimmy had got yourselves in to a bit of trouble."

"That's an understatement," Jessie muttered, glancing over to her partner who still hadn't moved. "I nearly died, abandoned James and got proposed to. James left Team Rocket to find me, got abandoned and then poisoned."

"So what's the plan?" There was something about Meowth's composed, methodical demeanour that made Jessie feel a little calmer.

"I need a flying Pokémon to get a message to Hearthome City."

"Coming right up," Meowth said, and ran off out of sight. Within seconds he had returned with a Crobat in tow. Jessie had forgotten how useful it was to have a companion who could talk to Pokémon. "Now what?" he asked.

"We need to get a message to Dr Redhill at Hearthome Hospital."

"But how?" Meowth asked.

Jessie pulled off her Team Rocket top, leaving only her plain black cropped shirt on underneath. She rubbed her fingers in the dirt at her feet and wrote as best as she could on the white material.

_SOS 209_

"We're still somewhere on Route 209, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," Meowth confirmed, "I just don't know where exactly."

Jessie rolled up her Team Rocket top and gave it to the Crobat. Meowth asked the bat Pokémon to take the message to Dr Redhill in Hearthome City and off it flew. Jessie watched the Crobat until it had vanished behind the treetops. Now all they could do was wait and pray that Dr Redhill understood the message and could get here before James got any worse.

"If you don't know exactly where we are, how did you find us?" Jessie asked finally, sitting down beside James.

"I ain't just a pretty face, you know. I got one heck of a sense of smell!" For the first time in days, Jessie felt the hint of a smile on her lips.

"What was it like working at Headquarters?" she asked.

"It was just like I imagined it would be," Meowth said. "Except I hated it."

"Why?"

"I ain't the kind of cat who likes to do what he's told."

"I've noticed."

"And all they did was boss me around, I never got any praise or nothin'!"

"That's how it was when you were with us, too," she reminded him, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but at least when I hung out with you guys we were always up to something interestin'."

"Why didn't you leave sooner?"

"When you work for the Boss, you're in it for life, you can't just leave," he said dramatically.

"So how did you get out?"

"Well, I... uh, left," he said. "But the Boss ain't gonna be happy! I don't think I'll be allowed back in to Team Rocket."

"That makes three of us," Jessie said with a sigh.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a little while. Jessie sat watching James, wishing he would just wake up.

"You... love him, don't ya?" Meowth asked, a little awkwardly.

"Yes."

"Well it's about time you admitted it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you two love birds have been crazy about each other for about five years. I should know, I've had to put up with it."

"That's not true!" Jessie said, feeling her cheeks flush.

"Puh-lease," Meowth said, half of Team Rocket are betting on when you'll get together. I've got ¥10,000 on you two getting it on in the next year."

Jessie flashed him an irritated look.

This whole time, she had been subconsciously listening to James's steady breathing but just then, something changed. She turned to James to see that all the colour had drained from his face, even his lips were turning a faint blue colour.

"James?" she said. She put her ear to his chest and heard his heartbeat, weak and slow. "No, don't give up yet James!" Meowth stood on the other side of his old friend, wide-eyed.

"C'mon, Jimmy," he said. "I didn't come all this way for you to go dyin'"

Jessie looked desperately to Meowth.

"How long is that Crobat going to take?" Meowth just shook his head.

"James," Jessie said, putting her hands on his cold face. "You have to hold on, the doctor is coming, you'll be fine, we'll all be fine."

"Jess, look," Meowth said, pointing above them. She looked up and saw the Crobat hovering over them.

"What's it doing?" she asked frantically.

"I think it's leading someone to us!" Meowth exclaimed. "I'll go look!" But Jessie couldn't hear anything, nothing that would suggest help was coming, anyway.

"You have to be okay," Jessie whispered. "Please, James." Without even thinking, she leaned down and kissed her partner, willing him to be all right.

At last, she heard it, a low rumbling sound. It was the sound of a Jeep steering through the trees. She looked around and saw the headlights shining through the gloom.

"Jessie?"

Jessie gasped and looked down to see James had woken up. His green eyes looked dull and exhausted, but at least he was conscious.

"I'm here," she said, grabbing hold of his hand and fighting back tears of relief. "You're going to be okay."

James frowned a little bit and touched his fingers to his lips.

"Did you just... kiss me?" he asked slowly.

"Nope," she lied abruptly.

"She's lying Jimmy, I saw her," Meowth called as he came back in to view, Dr Redhill and Officer Jenny following just behind.


	12. At Last

Jessie and James both sat cross-legged on a little hospital bed waiting for Dr Redhill to return while Meowth lay stretched out across a chair in the corner of the room, fast asleep.

Since waking up in the middle of the forest, James had made a swift recovery but he was still very quiet. Jessie watched him sitting opposite her, looking like he was in a world of his own.

When Jessie heard the click of the door opening, she looked away from James to see Dr Redhill entering the room, his expression unreadable. He handed Jessie her white shirt back. The message she had scrawled on it in the forest had been washed off and it was freshly ironed. She pulled it on over her black crop top and her Team Rocket outfit felt complete again.

"Well, I have your test results back, James," the doctor said. "Everything seems fine." Jessie felt James relax a little beside her.

"Now, I was wondering," the doctor continued, "could you tell me exactly what happened in the forest? The more we know about these Pokémon, the better."

James paused for a moment. He looked from the doctor to Jessie and back to the doctor, clearly unwilling to start his story.

"If you don't want to," Dr Redhill said.

"No, it's fine," said James. After a short pause and a deep breath, he continued, "I had been walking for about a day and I stopped and sat down by a river. I got up to wash my face and I must have stepped on one of the Pokémon."

As Jessie watched, she saw James's expression fall as he began reliving his trauma in the forest. "After that, it became harder to move until I was paralysed. And then, uh..." He trailed off, his eyes fixed on the corner of the bed, seemingly lost in his memories. Jessie reached out and took his hand. She didn't know exactly what James had been through, but if it was anything like her experience of being poisoned, he had every right to not want to talk about it.

James finally lifted his gaze and gave Jessie a little smile. She picked up the story for him.

"The other night, I found James beside the river surrounded by about a hundred of the Pokémon. I got him away but he stayed unconscious for another few hours. Eventually he woke up and that's when you came along."

"He just woke up?"

"Yes," Jessie said, uncomfortably.

"After Jessie kissed him," Meowth piped up from his chair.

"Would you stop that?!" she said, pulling her hand away from James's, feeling embarrassed.

"Ah, yes..." Dr Redhill said, looking thoughtful. After a few moments he continued,

"James, would I be correct in saying that when you were poisoned, you saw visions of something happening to Jessie?"

"Yes," James said. Jessie noticed his voice crack ever so slightly. No else seemed to have heard it though.

"Fascinating," the doctor said.

"What is?" asked Jessie. 'Fascinating', was not the word Jessie would have used to describe this whole situation.

"Well, much like in your case," Dr Redhill said, "the poison was clearly making James experience some of his worst fears, for example, something bad happening to you. When you kissed him, I think it was enough to remind his brain that you were fine, therefore allowing him to escape the bonds of the poison."

Meowth stared at the doctor.

"Are you seriously telling me that it was true love's first kiss that woke Jimmy up?" he asked, barely disguising a laugh.

"That's probably not how my colleagues would describe it but... yes," he said with a smile.

Jessie felt colour rise in her cheeks, but James looked unfazed.

"Now," the doctor said, sounding a little more serious. "Both of you should understand that there may be some after-effects associated with the poison. Unfortunately, we don't know very much more than that. I only wish we knew more about this Pokémon..."

As Dr Redhill said that, Jessie remembered her surprise in the forest.

"Well, James caught one," she said.

"He caught one?" Dr Redhill echoed.

"I _caught_ one?" James exclaimed.

Jessie, Meowth and the doctor all turned to look at him.

"You didn't know?" Jessie asked.

"No, I didn't know!"

"Well I found one of those Pokémon in one of your Pokéballs."

James looked completely shocked, not to mention a little disgusted at the thought. Then a look of comprehension dawned on his face.

"Oh..."

"Oh?"

"I tried to send out one of my Pokémon in the forest, but I picked an empty Pokéball from my belt. I guess when I threw it, it hit one of the creatures and I caught it."

"I bet ya the Boss would do anything to get his hands on an undiscovered Pokémon," Meowth said, stretching and jumping off his chair to stand beside their bed.

"Would you excuse me a moment?" the doctor said, suddenly walking from the room.

Jessie realised that Meowth had a point but she didn't imagine the Boss would even answer a phone call from her, let alone listen to a business proposition.

"Should I call?" she asked James. "It's your Pokémon after all." Her companion just shrugged.

"I didn't even mean to catch it. It's up to you."

So she decided to call. She picked up the hospital phone in the corner of the room and dialled the number for Headquarters. After a lot of difficulty, being transferred to several different departments and people, she finally got through to the Boss. She had barely spoken two words when he started yelling down the phone at her. His furious tirade continued for several minutes as he shouted something about her being 'a disappointment', 'a discredit to the team', 'a complete embarrassment', not to mention 'fired'. Jessie didn't speak a word as he ranted, but as soon as she was sure Giovanni had finished talking, she said,

"I have a proposition for you." To her great surprise, the Boss listened to her. When she told him exactly what the Pokémon could do to people, she could almost detect a note of excitement in his monotonic voice. After a moment of deliberation, he offered Jessie her job back in exchange for their new Pokémon discovery. But Jessie wouldn't settle for that.

"I want you to give James and Meowth their jobs back too." The Boss was silent. "And we want to work together as a trio again," she added.

For another minute or so, the Boss rhymed off several reasons why he wouldn't agree to that.

"If we can't reach an agreement, then you won't be getting this Pokémon," she said. So very reluctantly, the Boss agreed to her terms.

"Let me discuss your proposition with my team," she said smugly, relishing the rare feeling of having some power over the Boss. She hung up the phone and turned to her team-mates.

"Well?" Meowth asked, looking at her with eager eyes.

"He _really_ wants this Pokémon."

"What's he gonna give us in return?"

"We'll all get our jobs back and we get to work together again," she said with a grin. She could barely contain her excitement at the prospect of going back to work with her two best friends. Working for Team Rocket was one of the only things she was really good at.

James hadn't spoken since Jessie had hung up the phone. She was about to ask him what was wrong when Dr Redhill hurried back in to the room.

"Please don't sell that Pokémon to your boss," he said.

"Why not?" Meowth asked.

"I've just got off the phone with a friend of mine, Professor Williams from the Institute of Pokémon Research and Discovery. He would really like that Pokémon. A few people have caught glimpses of this Pokémon and several have been stung by it but no one has ever managed to catch one before. It would be an incredible advancement toward making an anti-venom and for discovering more about it."

Jessie hesitated. She could see how much Dr Redhill wanted his friend to have this poisonous scorpion and she understood that having a cure for its poison would be good, but at the same time, if she didn't give the Pokémon to the Boss, she would never work for Team Rocket again.

She looked to Meowth who seemed to be going through the same thought process as her. When she turned to James, she saw that he was already watching her closely.

"I should mention," the doctor continued, "that Professor Williams is willing to pay a substantial sum of money in exchange for this Pokémon."

"How much?" Meowth asked bluntly. The doctor handed the cat Pokémon a little slip of paper. Meowth's mouth fell open when he read the amount of money scrawled on the paper. When he handed the note to Jessie, she almost fell over.

"You know there are hundreds of those scorpion Pokémon out in the forest, right?" Meowth asked, looking at the doctor like he had gone mad.

"Yes, but there is a real possibility that this is the only one we will have in captivity for a very long time. Officer Jenny has closed off a large section of the forest to try and keep unsuspecting trainers and their Pokémon from getting hurt. Also, frankly, no one else would be willing to get near enough to catch one of them."

"For this amount of money I'd get near enough to kiss one!" Meowth said.

"I'll leave you to think about it," he said, and left them.

"What is there to think about?" Meowth said, "Let's take the money!"

"But that means none of us get our jobs back," Jessie said.

"So we have to choose between getting our jobs back and an enormous pile of cash?"

Jessie sat down on the creaky bed beside James. There wasn't really a choice. They were being asked to give the Pokémon to a doctor who would use it to help people or a criminal who would use it to torture people.

"I never thought I'd have to choose between Team Rocket and millions of dollars," she said to James.

"You want to keep your job, don't you?" he asked, turning around so he was sitting side-by-side with Jessie, his legs hanging over the edge of the bed.

"Yes, but I can't. We can't give this Pokémon to the Boss."

"I know."

"What am I supposed to do with my life if I don't work for Team Rocket? It's all I've ever known," she said.

James put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. She put her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"Being a Rocket field agent is all I know how to do,"

"You know how to do lots of things," James said.

"Like what?" she asked, sulkily.

"You're a great Pokémon trainer for a start," he said. "And a brilliant coordinator..."

Jessie thought he was about to say something else but he fell silent. She lifted her head to look at him and saw that he was watching her intently, some unspoken feeling burning behind his bright green eyes. For a moment, she couldn't tear her gaze away from him. She suddenly became very aware of her own breathing, the position of her body, how her hair looked...

She finally tore her eyes away from James when she heard the door open and Dr Redhill entered with Meowth close behind. She hadn't even noticed Meowth had left.

"Have you thought any more about the offer from Professor Williams?"

"Yes," James said. "We're going to send the Pokémon to him."

"That is excellent news!" the doctor said. "I'm going to call him right now!"

Suddenly Jessie felt very deflated. The decision had been made; they were never going to back to Team Rocket.

She rested her head back on James's shoulder, taking comfort in the feeling of his arm around her back.

"What are you going to do with your money?" she asked James.

"Our money," he corrected. "We should split it between all three of us."

"But you caught the Pokémon," Jessie said.

"But you and Meowth saved me," he replied. "We should split it."

"Well I know what I'm doin' with my third!" said Meowth. "I'm gonna buy all the food I can find and eat it all!"

_Trust Meowth to think of his stomach first, _Jessie thought.

"What are you gonna do with your share, Jess?" Jessie just shrugged. She was still mourning the loss of her career. She didn't much feel like fantasising.

"What about you, James?" Jessie asked.

"I always liked the idea of buying a house. Somewhere close to the sea with a beach right beside it and a garden..." Jessie got the impression that this wasn't the first time James had fantasised about a seaside home.

"It would be nice and secluded but also close enough to a town so we could buy everything we would need."

_We? _Jessie hadn't realised that she was part of this beach house dream. She squirmed away from James and stood up.

"We?" she asked, trying to be calm. James looked taken aback.

"Yes, _we,_" he said. "I assumed that even after Team Rocket, we'd still live together, me you and Meowth like we have done for the last seven years." He stared at her for a moment, a little crease forming between his eyebrows. "Unless, now that we don't work together, you don't want to stay with me."

"It's not you..." she started lamely.

"Please don't say 'it's not you, it's me'," James said looking sceptical.

"Aw brother..." Meowth muttered, and slunk out of the room, leaving his two best friends to fight.

"It's true," she said sadly. "I can't be what you want."

"How do you know what I want?" he asked angrily, standing up off the bed and approaching her.

"Because I know you," she snapped back.

"I'm not sure you do!"

"Oh, please, I have spent almost every day with you for the past seven years. Believe me, I know you. You want your perfect beach house with your perfect family and I can't fit in to that."

"You don't want a nice house? A family?" he asked.

"It's not that I don't _want _that," she said exasperatedly. "It's just... things like that don't happen for people like me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She hesitated, unsure how to put her complex mush of feelings in to words.

"You're so much easier to talk to when you're unconscious," she muttered.

"Ditto."

"Look, I'm not right for you," she said at long last. "Here I am, standing in front of the... the kindest and most wonderful man I've ever met and I'm too scared to let myself love him." She said all this very fast as though the quicker she said it, the quicker she could get her guard back up. James stared at her, confused.

"What is there to be scared of?"

"If I let myself fall for you, I'm just setting myself up for a whole lot of heartbreak when you leave me."

"What do you mean, 'when'?" he asked, sounding flabbergasted. "Jessie, I will _never_ leave you."

"Everybody leaves," she said shortly. "Can you really imagine spending the rest of your life with me?"

"Yes. What is it that you think is so inherently unlovable about you?"

"I'm horrible, short-tempered – "

"Vain, hot-headed, crabby," he interjected, "beautiful, smart, ambitious... why is it so hard for you to understand? I love _everything_ about you, including your flaws."

They were now standing just an inch apart. There was such a fire burning in James's green eyes that Jessie almost completely lost her train of thought.

"And for the rest of my life, I promise that I will look out for you, take care of you and try to make you as happy as you make me. I will love you until the day I die."

Jessie was taken aback. This was a whole new side of James she was seeing. He was so very different from the man he used to be and yet he was still the same.

"I watched you die sixty-seven times," he said, finally revealing to her what he had experienced in the forest. "And sixty-seven times I wished it was me dying in your place." Jessie stood speechless. The unmistakable pain in his eyes was making her heart ache. "Over the last few months I've realised that I can't live without you. You are everything to me." By this point, he was now holding her possessively by the arms. The rush of excitement, fear and desire that came over her left her completely inarticulate.

Twenty-four years of habit were telling Jessie to keep her guard up and not reveal herself to be vulnerable. But it was really a pointless endeavour. The entire time she had been with James, she had deliberately and firmly kept a wall up between them, but for the past five years or so James had developed the uncanny ability of being able to vault over any obstacles she placed between them. Without realising it, she had let James really get to know her and for some reason, he still wanted to be with her. Perhaps he really did love her; perhaps he really wouldn't leave her.

Unable to construct a worthy response, she gave in to her instincts. Half a decade of longing spilled out from within her and before she knew it, her lips were on his; her hands in his hair; his arms pulling her up against his body.

Outside the hospital room, Meowth turned away from the window from where he had been spying on his friends.

"Finally," he said with a sigh as he curled up on a chair, leaving his friends to their business.

* * *

**A/N Sorry for not posting this sooner, it took me ages to get this chapter right! Thanks very much for reading, I hope you enjoy and please review! Much love x**


	13. Six Months Later

**A/N Hello again! This is just a little bit of light-hearted fluff before I finish this story. The next chapter will probably be the last. Thanks so much for your continued support! **

* * *

_Six Months Later_

"Would you stop fidgeting?"

"I want to see!"

"Jessie, stop touching your blindfold!"

"I hate this!"

"Do you trust me?"

She paused. "Yes."

"Then stop touching your blindfold," he said, kissing her gently on the forehead before leading her outside of the little cottage they had been renting for the past few months.

"Where are we going?"

"I told you it's a surprise."

James led Jessie through a little copse of trees, making sure she didn't trip or walk in to anything. As they walked, the sound of the waves drifting up against the shore became more audible.

"We had better not be going in the sea," Jessie said, sounding even more wary.

"Trust me," James repeated.

When they arrived at their destination he lifted Jessie's blindfold. She gasped.

He had brought her to the magnificent three storey house he had just finished building. It had taken him just over six months with Meowth's help and he was very proud of it. It was exactly how he had imagined it. On one side of the house lay the beach, its bright white sand glowing in the sun. On the other side were rolling hills of lush, deep green grass. At the top of one of the hills, a Rapidash stood gazing down at the new arrivals before turning and galloping off.

The house stood bathed in afternoon light which cast a faint orange glow across its white-washed walls. Each of the windows had sapphire blue shutters and a little window-box full of bright flowers.

"James, it's perfect," she breathed.

"Just wait until you see inside," he said, very relieved that his creation had made such a good first impression.

He pushed the big wooden front door open to reveal the hall – bright and airy with a spiral staircase at the far end.

He took her by the hand and showed her the kitchen, the lounge, the other lounge and the dining room, but he was most excited about showing her upstairs.

When they eventually made it to the second floor, he was surprised to find that he felt a little nervous.

"What's wrong?" Jessie asked, reading him like a book.

"I just really hope you like this next part."

"If it's anything like the rest of the house, I know I'll love it," she said, squeezing his hand.

"Okay," he said and pushed open the next door.

He couldn't help the little surge of pride he felt when he saw this room. It was by far his favourite room in the sizable house.

The wall opposite the door was made entirely of glass, presenting them with an incredible view of the sea. James couldn't have timed this better as the sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon, tingeing the sky orange and pink and filling the room with warm light.

They took a few steps inside to see a huge, king-size bed with soft, crisp white sheets. The rest of the furniture was pale and wooden. Lying on one of the bedside tables was a single red rose.

"So... this is our room."

Jessie didn't say anything for a moment and James was worried she was about to have another commitment-phobic meltdown.

"Do you like it?"

"It's incredible," she said. "It's just... wow."

"Well I know I've done a good job if I'm leaving you lost for words."

She shot him a mischievous smile.

"Do you want to see the other rooms? There are a couple more bedrooms, one for Meowth obviously and - "

"I'd quite like to stay here," she said.

"But don't you want to... oh," he said as it dawned on him exactly what Jessie was suggesting. He pulled her by the hand over to the bed, kicking the door shut behind them.

* * *

The next morning, Jessie and James came downstairs to the kitchen. Meowth was observing them with an amused smile.

Jessie was wearing only the t-shirt that James had had worn the day before, falling just half way down her thighs. Her long magenta hair was lying on her shoulders, loose and wavy. James was wearing just a pair of sweatpants, showing off his unexpectedly muscular torso.

Clearly, neither of them had noticed Meowth who had been snoozing on one of the kitchen stools.

Jessie had started making coffee when James came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck.

Meowth wanted to cover his eyes and ignore his friends' display of affection but then he caught sight of Jessie's face when she turned around to face James. He had never seen her look so happy, so carefree or content. If it weren't for the fact the she and James were all over each other, he might have described this scene as 'cute.'

Jessie looped her arms around James's neck and kissed him. With one hand around her waist and the other in her hair, he lifted her easily on to the counter top. When Jessie wrapped her slim legs around James, Meowth decided he had seen more than enough.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat.

His friends both looked round like startled rabbits. Jessie hopped off the counter quickly, fixing her hair in an effort to hide her embarrassment. James just laughed. _Oh how Jimmy has changed, _he thought. _He's all in control and confident. Weird. _

"Good night?" Meowth asked, slyly.

"Very good thank you," Jessie said, raising an eyebrow at Meowth before looking around at James, a distinctly 'mushy' look in her vivid blue eyes.

"Too much information," Meowth said, shaking his head.

"You asked," said James, pulling Jessie closer to him and kissing her forehead.

"Okay, okay," Meowth said, holding up his paws. "You got mail," he said, remembering the little cream envelope he had found on the doormat earlier that morning and trying to steer the conversation away from all this lovey-dovey stuff.

James followed Meowth's gaze and found the card lying beside the fruit bowl.

"It's addressed to both of us," he said.

"Open it."

* * *

_The Institute of Pokémon Research and Discovery invites you to the_

_28__th__ ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY_

_honouring this year's great achievements in the medical and Pokémedical fields._

_Enjoy dinner, an awards presentation and remarks from this year's guest speaker, Prof. Elm and a spectacular fireworks display to end the evening._

_Saturday, July 18__th_

_6.00pm – 10.00pm_

_Borealis Hall and Gardens, Route 7, Canalave City_

* * *

"What are we getting invited for?" James asked. As he turned the envelope in his hands, another slip of paper fell out and drifted to the floor.

_Jessie, James and Meowth,_

_I would love it if you could attend this year's award ceremony. _

_It is thanks to you that several of this year's greatest discoveries have been made._

_I hope to see you there,_

_Dr Redhill_

"Wow," Jessie said. "Do you want to go? It sounds fancy!"

"Sure!" James said.

"I'm in," said Meowth.

"So we're going to a big fancy awards ceremony in a few weeks. You know what this means?" Jessie said turning to James.

"Shopping!"


	14. Awards

**A/N Hello! Here's the second last chapter of this fic. I was only intending on doing one more chapter but there were just too many loose ends to tie up! Anyway, hope you enjoy and don't mind a bit of fluff!**

* * *

For the third time, James adjusted his bow tie in the mirror. Something about it wasn't right and it was beginning to frustrate him. He rarely dressed this formally, and now he realised why. It was times like these that his missed his Team Rocket uniform. He had even worn dresses that were more comfortable than this tux. Patting himself down, he made sure he had everything he needed in his pockets.

Just then he heard the unfamiliar sound of high heels on wood and turned to see Jessie descending the spiral staircase. She just about took his breath away in a black, knee length dress and matching shoes. She looked beautiful every day, but tonight she was extraordinary.

"You look... wow," he said, taking her by the hand as she approached him.

"You look pretty darn good yourself," she said. Her gaze lingered on his for a moment before she spotted his squint bow tie. He watched her deft fingers undo the tie and redo it with ease. Everything about Jessie amazed him, even how well she could tie a tie. To him, everything she did was perfect.

Jessie glanced up at him, clearly aware that he was watching her so closely.

"What?" she asked. He didn't answer; he just lifted her chin ever so slightly and gave her a soft, slow kiss.

"What was that for?"

"Nothing. I just want you to know how much I love you."

"I know," she said, reaching out and wiping a little smudge of lipstick from his mouth. "Now, come on or we'll be late. Meowth!" she called over her shoulder.

"Quit your whining, I'm comin'!"

"Can you believe he took longer to get ready than I did?" Jessie said. "He doesn't even wear clothes!"

Meowth hurried down the stairs, actually looking rather sleek. He took a look at his two partners and gave an approving nod.

"You clean up good, Jimmy," he said. "And Jessie!" he continued, studying her from head to toe. "You look... okay, I guess."

"Thanks," she said dryly, shoving him out the door.

* * *

They arrived at the Borealis Hall just on time and discovered that the whole ceremony was taking place outside. Two hundred paper lanterns were strung up by ribbons above a great lawn, bathing the many linen covered tables below in soft light. The night was a warm one but every so often a soft breeze would blow through the field.

Almost as soon as they had found their allocated seats, the proceedings began. On a long stage full of trophies, there sat a podium where the chairman of the Institute of Pokémon Research and Discovery gave a short welcome speech. Several awards were presented before it was the turn of Dr Redhill and his friend Professor Williams. Even that friend of the twerps, Professor Oak, was awarded a lifetime achievement award for his creation and development of the Pokédex. To James's mild amusement, he could hear the cheering and whooping of one of the twerps over the applause of the crowd.

"I can't wait to see the look on that twerp's face when he sees us now," Meowth whispered.

While some other awards were distributed, James sat absent-mindedly stroking the back of Jessie's hand. Meowth was occupying himself with the selection of bread that was already lying on the table.

A little later, Dr Redhill was called to the stage, along with Professor Williams. The latter man began to speak,

"As many of you will know by now, this year has seen the discovery of a brand new species of Pokémon. Due to its similarities to both a spider and scorpion, we have named this new Pokémon Scorachnid and we have placed it in the Bug/Poison category."

On the announcement of the Pokémon's name, someone behind Professor Williams released the Scorachnid that James has inadvertently caught in the woods so many months ago. It crept along the stage leisurely, stopping to investigate any dark corners it found, apparently more curious than murderous this time.

"As you can see, when captured, these Pokémon are quite tame, only using their poison in battles against other Pokémon. Their poison is not lethal to Pokémon but it is incredibly dangerous to humans. In the past year, at least three trainers have died from being stung by a wild Scorachnid."

Jessie and James exchanged troubled looks and Jessie took James's hand. They had both come a little too close to adding to that statistic and neither of them had quite recovered from the panic of almost losing their partner. Jessie still had nightmares about it. Almost every night she would call out for James in her sleep. Usually she would settle if he pulled her close to him but on several occasions she had woken screaming with tears running down her face.

"However," continued Professor Williams, "Two trainers managed to survive the poison thanks to Dr Redhill's care and their own sheer resilience, and they are here with us tonight."

There was a little round of applause at this. James felt a little embarrassed at being mentioned in the speech, even though no one here knew who they were. He didn't feel that he had done anything worth congratulating. To add to his embarrassment, Dr Redhill approached the microphone and spoke.

"I would just like to add that the generosity and cooperation of these two trainers has been invaluable and has helped pave the way to creating an anti-venom for the Scorachnid's poison. Jessie, James and of course Meowth, it is no exaggeration to say that we could not have managed this feat without you."

A spotlight was shone from the stage to illuminate the slightly uncomfortable trio and another round of applause followed, except this time, every turned to look at them, smiling and clapping. James glanced to Jessie to see that she was looking as embarrassed as he felt. Once again, above the sound of the crowd, James could pick out some squeaky twerp-voices.

"Did he say Jessie and James?!"

"Team ROCKET?!"

Much to their relief, the spotlight was lifted from them after a few seconds and the speech continued. Dr Redhill spoke of the psychological and physical effects of the poison, most of which neither Jessie nor James really understood.

The speeches continued for a short while longer and when they were finished, it was time to eat. They were presented with a delicious meal that all three of them had finished at least twenty minutes before anyone else.

When it was announced that the firework display was about to start, most of the guests who had been milling around the tables resumed their seats, but James had a better idea.

"Come with me," he said to Jessie, standing up and holding out his hand to her. For the first time, she didn't argue or demand to know where they were going. Perhaps she was finally beginning to trust him.

"Oh, no thanks, I didn't want to come anyways!" Meowth called sarcastically as they left him behind at the table.

James led her away from the tables, the lights and the people and up to the top of a hill that overlooked the picturesque house and gardens of their venue. Night had really fallen now and as they sat down together on the soft, cool grass they looked up to see a perfectly clear night's sky, dotted with many thousands of stars.

James knew he had picked the right location when the first firework shot in to the sky and exploded in a burst of green and white light. Below them, the crowd let out a unanimous 'ooh' of pleasure and a contented Jessie rested her head on James's shoulder.

The firework show continued for at least ten minutes, becoming increasingly more spectacular. A particularly beautiful firework whistled in to the air and cracked in to life before them, bursting in to a thousand tiny pieces with a spectacular flash of yellow light before drifting from the sky like flakes of burning snow.

While everyone else's eyes were fixed firmly upwards, James had his eye on something even more breathtaking. With each loud bang, Jessie's face would be lit up a different colour and her eyes would sparkle more vividly than ever, illuminating the expression of complete, innocent contentment on her perfect face. He had never seen her happier, or more beautiful. Then the words were out of his mouth before he had a moment to think.

"Marry me."


	15. Return

Jessie whipped around to look at him. Suddenly the sound of the fireworks became nothing but background noise.

"What did you say?"

James turned to face her and propped himself up on one knee.

"Marry me." He slipped his hand in to his pocket and pulled out a little navy, velvet box.

He watched her with such calm patience that Jessie could hardly believe this was the same man she had met almost eight years ago and yet she had loved him for almost all of that time.

"Oh, of course I will," she said throwing herself in to his arms. He laughed with relief and held her close to him. She had hoped that one day they would get married but the way he proposed was so unexpected that Jessie had to fight back tears of happiness.

"Here, try on the ring," he said. Jessie had completely forgotten to even look at the ring in her excitement. He popped open the ring box to reveal a beautiful gold band holding one single magnificent diamond. James took her hand and slipped the ring on to her finger. It was a perfect fit.

Almost nothing could have distracted Jessie from that moment, except perhaps a chubby little Pikachu running past them on the hill. The unexpected sight made her turn around.

"The twerps are here," James said, putting his arms around Jessie from behind and resting his chin on he shoulder, watching the Pikachu with longing. Sure enough, three little twerps followed the Pikachu shouting about their plans to go and defeat some gym leader or another as they left the venue. Jessie watched them with a peculiar feeling bubbling inside her.

"I think I miss them," she said.

"You know what? I think I might miss them too," James said.

Something else caught Jessie's eye as she watched the three kids and their Pokémon. There was a rustling in the bushes at the bottom of the hill and Jessie recognised a familiar mop of brown hair.

"Jasper's down there!" she said, wondering what he was doing here.

"Jasper and Carmen," James said. Jessie watched with great amusement as the pair of Rocket agents attempted to hide in the bushes, evidently planning an ambush for the twerps but they kept stepping on each other's toes - literally.

"Looks like they took our jobs," James said.

"It's a shame we don't get to do that anymore. We were dreadful at it, but it was so fun." she said.

"Well why can't we?" said a voice behind them. Meowth had climbed the hill and was holding something behind his back.

"What have you got there?"

"Well," he said, looking rather proud of himself. "I figured it wouldn't be long be 'til you got all soppy over not havin' a job anymore so I thought we could go freelance."

"You mean still chase the twerps but not have to give anything to the Boss?"

"Sure."

"And get to go home to a warm house at the end of the day," said James, his eyes lighting up.

"So..." said Meowth, revealing two piles of clothes. Jessie took one and unfolded it.

"Our Rocket uniforms!"

"You kept them?"

"I sure did," Meowth said, "and I only made a few minor adjustments."

Sure enough, the big red 'R' on the front of their shirts had been replaced with a 'J'.

Within seconds, Jessie and James had changed out of their formalwear and in to their familiar outfits and slipped down the hill as quietly as they could, passing Jasper and Carmen on the way.

"What are you doing here?" Carmen whispered, looking irritated.

"Let us show you how it's done," Jessie said with a smug smile, taking an immediate dislike to the black haired Rocket agent.

"Jessie..." said Jasper. He seemed completely caught off guard at the sight of her.

"Jasper." She gave him a polite nod, but nothing more. As far as she was concerned, everything that went on between herself and Jasper was far in the past – both the good and the bad experiences. She looked around to see that the twerps were almost out of sight.

"Come on," she said.

"After you, fiancée," said James, bowing to Jessie.

"You are too kind, fiancé," Jessie said, giving a rather exaggerated curtsey.

"Just come on," said Meowth, rolling his eyes. Jessie thought she saw Jasper and Carmen exchanging surprised looks.

The trio followed the twerps a little way away from the Borealis Gardens, not wanting to cause a scene at the dinner where they had just been honoured. The road was dark but after a mile or so, they saw streetlights ahead casting large orange circles of light on to the path and seized their opportunity. Jessie, James and Meowth leaped from the bushes in to the light in perfect synchronicity. The twerps were startled and gave their usual dramatic shout of,

"Team Rocket!"

"Not quite," said Meowth. "But still..."

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

* * *

**A/N Well, that's it! I'm actually quite sorry that this story is over, I've been working on it for two and a half years! Thank you so much for your support throughout this fic, it means the world to me. Please review and let me know what you thought of the story as a whole. **


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